France adds 1 person to autonomous counterterrorism sanctions list & French court refuses her urgent application to suspend the measures

5 August 2026

France has added Ksenia Borchik Fedorova to its autonomous counterterrorism sanctions list under the Monetary and Financial Code (L. 562-2). Ms Fedorova is the former head of RT France, who has repeated Russian media narratives about the war in Ukraine in France. Her French assets are frozen for six months.

Ms Fedorova was also made subject to an expulsion order and a residence order confining her to Paris. Ms Fedorova sought an injunction to suspend the orders from the Paris Administrative Tribunal. She used the référé liberté procedure, which requires an applicant to show "extreme urgency" justifying a decision within 48 hours. The Tribunal refused to suspend the measures. The judge said Ms Fedorova relied on general legal presumptions of urgency rather than showing how the measures actually affected her. The judge held:

• The presumption of urgency for expulsion did not apply, because she was subject to a residence order.

• The presumption of urgency for a residence order did not apply, because she was free to move throughout Paris. She showed no need to leave the city and had not asked the police for permission to do so.

• No presumption of urgency exists for an asset freeze, and she gave no evidence of serious harm she suffered from it.